Piling spacer



May 12, 1931. G. A. GU'YER 1,305,086

FILING SPACER Filed Feb. 15, 1930 Jnvezzf'or George J5 Gig/er Patented May 12, 1931 UNITE sits :PIL NG srA'cER Application filed reb r is, 1930. seriai No. 428,741.

My invention relates to steel sheet piling, and more particularly-it relates to lmproved means for maintaining the verticality of the 7 individual sheet piling when driven in intertions are to tial verticality cases, the desired result has been obtainedv locking relation to form a wall.

Still more particularly it relates to an improved -spacing device for use in driving such interlocking piling to compel each piling section, as it is driven, main in vertical parallel relation to the sections previously driven.

It is well known to those familiar with the art that in driving sheet pilingsections, oneat atime,'to form a wall, there is a tendency of the section to draw' ahead at the top and" the'bottom by reasonof the to squeeze in at soil pressure. Each section, as driven, is thereby inclined outwardlyat the top relative to the next adjacent section, so'that after a few sections are driven, the inclination is so reatas to require correction if thesecbe maintained substantially ver-" tical. Various schemes and attempts have" been heretofore made to maintain substanof' such sections. In some by providingatapered section having its narrow end at the top, the difference'in width of the topand bottom ends being sufiicient to compensate for the total accumulate ed inclination to the vertical.

by the amount driven section. The manufacture of such tapered sections is expensive and their-drivthan for the normal ing requires more time straight pillng section.

Various attempts have been heretofore made to maintain the desired verticality of steel sheet-piling. In some casedw'edges have been drivenupwardly froin'beneath the piling section intothe clearance space between such section and. the last 'drlvensection. Such a wedge 'operatesvsuccess- .fully to preventthe squeezing in action to take and recountered.

ing once dropped-out of position, no longe functions and the further driving of the The tapered, sections are drivenat intervals, determined of inclination of the last of position; regardless of the amount entirely. by their wedging action and for 55 this reason are frequently released by the concussion of the driving hammer in case a pocket or'open'space in. the soil isfen- A' spacer 1 thus suspended havsection is necessarily completed'with nothmg to prevent the objectionable'squeezing in action at the-bottom of the section.

The invention contemplates an improved spacing device operable to bepositioned' from above in the clearance space of'the ball and socket connectionof twoadjacent interlocking sheet piling. sections. 'Thespacer is so constructed asto be suspended from the" top of the pile section a jacent the one being driven. One of such spacers is required for each section. Following the initial driving operation,- such spacers are no longer suspended from the top of the adjacent section, but are carried downwardly with the section beingdriven andea'ch 1 device functions asa spacer, moving with j and; holding the bottom of the section being A driven-at a fixed "predetermined distance from the next adjacent section. The-re siliency of the device causes; it to be held in fixed relation to the section being driven and thereby secures it against falling out concussion resulting from the "hammer strokes or the strains to which the sections are subjected in the driving process' The device thereby holds the {bottom of the section throughout the entire-driving opera 9'0 GEORG LGU E or CHICAGO, ILLIivoIs objectionable forthe reason 0 a novel construction, arrangement and con tom o th se ion to tion at a fixed distance relative to the next adjacent section.

An object of the invention is the provision of pile spacers of the kind described, operable for use with interlocking steel or other sheet pile sections, whereby said sections are maintained in parallel relation when driven to form a wall. 7

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of the kind described which, having once been placed in operative position between two pile sections, will folloW the driven section throughout its entire travel and is secured against dropping and falling when pockets are encountered.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a device of the kind described, which is simple, compact, inexpensive to manufacture, and suitable for its intended purpose.

Many other objects and adyantages of the construction herein shown and described willbe obvious to; those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein given.

, To this end my invention consists in the bination of parts herein shown and described and more particularly pointed out in theclaims.

v,ln ,the drawings, wherein like reference characters-ind cate l ke or corresponding rant Fig. 1, isiaidiagrammatic viewof a piling wall illustrating the tendency ofthe botto spread at the top; j

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of a p l ng wall wherein the tendency of; the bottom of the SQ t OH o squeeze together has been .ll filffim d by the use of Fig. .3 is a view to a larger scale showing typical ball and socket joints forming interlooking connections between adjacent pile sectionsg, I j I .1? ig. 4. is-a view illustrating one of the devices comprising my invention in position between and near the bottom of two piling sections, the driving of which has been completed; j I lilig li is a view illustrating the device suspended in position ready for the initial operation of driving. a pile section;

Fig GAS a perspectiveview of the device.

Beferring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 9 generally designates a wall made up of a plurality of steel.

sheet piling sectionsll driven one by one, in interlocking relation without the use of any device for maintaing the verticality of the sections. The numeral 10 generally designates awall made up of a plurality of steel sheet piling seetionsll likewise driven injinterlocking relation but with a spacing Q5 1 4; comprising my invention so posipack together and t The upper end of the tioned as to cause the section being driven to remain parallel to the next ad acent section with which it is interlocked.

Each edge of a section 11 is provided with two projections, one of which designated by the numeral 12 forms an outer enlarged bell shaped section. The other projection 19 designated by the numeral 19 is curved and spaced away from the section 12 to form ashown,possesses all of the advantages of a ball and socket joint with suiiicient clearance space 1n the interlock for ease of ClIlV- i11 and. ullino'. Contact between the bell shaped projection 12 and the walls of socket 13 is made by lines rather than by surfaces, so that wedging action when the piling section is driven or pulled is prevented and maximum strength is secured for the wall in both lateral and longitudinal directions. The socket or packing space 13 thereby provided is usually large enou h to provide a clearance-space for the interlockingportions of two adjacent sections 11. The soil pressure tends to force the bottom of the section 11 inwardly against the adjacent section the full amount permitted by the clearance space, and correspondingly pulls the top of the section outwardly so that a section driven without a spacing device will be inclined to the section with which it is interlocked the maximum permitted by the clearance. This tendency of the driven section to squeeze in at the bottom is prevented by suspending my spacing device 14 from the top end of the section last driven in the clearance space 13, as a preliminary to the driv ing operation as is best shown in Fig. 5.

The device 14 is shown as of inte ral construction, but it may be made of separate pieces properly assembled to form a unitary 1 structure. As shown, the device 14- comprises a relatively thick bottom spacer member 15 and an upper relatively thin longitudinally ext-ending supporting member 16. supporting member 16 is extended rearwardly to form a lateral member 18, which rests upon the upper edge of the last driven pile section 11.

Both the supporting member 16 and the lateral member 18 are sufliciently thin that pressure resulting from contact therewith of the lower end of the pile being driven forces the member 18 into the inclined position and the member 16 into the curved position shown in Fig. 4. .The spacer member 15 has a thickness slightly less'than the maximum clearance space so that a section 11 next to be driven can be placed in position as shown in Fig.

5 with its lower end resting upon a shelf 17 projecting from the spacer member 15 in a direction opposite to that of the lateral member 18. The distance from the free end of the lateral member 18 5 to the opposite face of the longitudinally extending member 16 is preferably slightly greater than the thickness of the clearance space in which the spacer member 14, is positioned, so that accidentally by ance space 13, is started.

Since the pile shelf member 17, the driving operation'will carry with it the device 14 and by pulling upon the supporting member 16 will cause the lateral member 18 to bend relative to the member 16. Since the member 16 is relatively thin, it is easily distorted laterally 2 and the continued driving operation will cause it to take a position substantially as shown in Fig. 4.

As a result of the distortion of the members16 and 18, they have a plurality of points of sliding contact with the adjacent pile previously driven which prevent the device fromdropping out of the clearance space 13 in which it is positioned, should pockets be encountered in the soil. The resiliency of the members 16 and 18 hold them against displacement relative to the pile section being driven during its travel downwardly' The device 14 is intended for a single driving operation. v No attempt is made to recover the device after the driving of a pile section is completed since its simplicity of construction makes it inexpensive to manufacture and adapts it as an article intended operation.

Having thus described myinvention, it is obvious that various immaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of my invention; hence, I do not wish to be understood as dropping through the clearbefore the driving operation limiting myself to the exact form, construetion, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described or uses mentioned.

What I'claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I I

1. A unitary device of the kind described comprising a relatively thick spacer member, a relatively thin longitudinally extending supporting member and a lateral member projecting from the ness of the spacing member being less than the distance from the free endoi the lateral member to the opposite face of the device.

2. A unitary device of the kinddescribed comprising a relatively thick spacer member, a longitudinally extending supporting member and a lateral member projecting from the supporting member, the length of the lateral member combined with the thickcomprising a relatively, thick spacer mem the device will not be lost spacer member.

section 11 rests upon the end of said spacer member and tionin'g in the clearance space between for a single device, the thickness of the supporting member exceeding the thickness of the spacer members A: unitary device of the kind descr bed ber, awrelative ly "thin longitudinally extend ing= supporting :member', a lateral member connected with the free end of said supporting-member, the length of said lateral member being greater than: the thickness ofsaid 4'." A u nitary device of the kind described,

comprising a relatively thick spacer member, a relatively thin longitudinally extending supporting member projecting from one end of said spacer member, a lateral member projecting from the supporting member, the length of said lateral member being greater than the thickness of the, spacer member and a lateral projection forming a shelf on said spacer member. 5. Aounitary device of. thekind described, comprising a relatively thick spacermemher, a relatively thin longitudinally extending supporting member projecting from one member, a lateral member projecting from the supporting member, the length of said lateral member belng greater than the thickness of the spacer a lateral. projection forming a shell. on said spacer member, said lateral projection being on the opposite side of said device from the lateral member;

6. A pile straightening device for posi two interlocking steel sheet piling sections, said device comprising a spacer member having a thickness slightly less than the width'of sa d clearance space, and a relatively thin longitudinally extending supporting mem- I ber adapted to suspend said spacer member from the top of one of said sections.

' 7. A. pile straightening device for positioning in the clearance space between two interlocking steel sheet piling sections, said device comprising a spacer memberhaving a thickness slightly less than the width of said clearance space, a relatively thin longi- 6' tudinally extending member from which said spacer member is suspended and a lateral member projecting from said longi- 1' tudinally extending member into engagement with the end face of one of said sections, and a member projecting from the" spacer member intocooperative engagement with the lower end face ofthe other section a relatively thin longitudinally extending member from, which said. spacer member is suspended and a relatively thin lateral member'projecting from 1 0 V v a spacermember having 1275v thickness slightly less than the width ofsaid clearance space,

said longitudinally extending member into engagement with the end face of one of said sections, and a relatively thick member projecting from the spacer member into 7co- '-6 operative engagement With the lower end face of the other section for the purpose described. t In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 10th day of February; A. D.

GEORGE A. GUYER. 

